Monthly Archives: May 2013

Art star Fabio Napoleoni will be the guest of the Chuck Jones Gallery–San Diego, Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8. Known for his compelling, deceptively simple yet emotionally powerful works, this will be Napoleoni's 2nd solo exhibition and reception at the gallery.

Fabio Napoleoni, center in plaid shirt, shown with the staff of the Chuck Jones Gallery–San Diego in 2012.

Besides exhibiting several new original works, the gallery is pleased to announce that "The Wish List" fine art reproduction on canvas is their's exclusively for a limited time.

This heartfelt wish list's universal theme is beautifully portrayed with the use of Napoleoni's symbolic imagery.

Also available is "Let Your Heart Guide the Way" a fine art reproduction on canvas. This edition has long been sold-through and the gallery is pleased to be able to present three signed and numbered examples of the work to collectors. Call today for details! 888-294-9880 or email SanDiego@ChuckJones.com.

Tickets go on Sale May 23rd; funds support
music and arts education in schools

LOS ANGELES,
May 15, 2013 – On Thursday, June 27th, Nashville recording artist
Andrew Combs, Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson and Good Luck
Thrift Store Outfit frontman Willy Tea Taylor will take part in a special acoustic concert at the Chuck Jones Center for
Creativity in Costa Mesa, CA.

The performance
will be part of the “Blackwing Sessions” music series in conjunction with the
Blackwing Experience, a travelling exhibit honoring creativity and the
woodcased pencil. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Blackwing Foundation
and its efforts to further arts and music education in schools.

No Depression Magazine named Taylor “one of the most important American
singer/songwriters of our time.” Saving Country Music compared Taylor’s
songwriting to “those now legendary recordings of Paul Simon in his
post-Garfunkel days.”

Watson spent 13 years as lead vocalist and songwriter for Old Crow
Medicine Show. Paving the way for other roots bands like Mumford and
Sons and the Lumineers, OCMS is best known for taking an unfinished Bob Dylan
song (“Wagon Wheel”) and turning it into a cult classic. Watson partook in the
historic “Railroad Revival Tour”, traveling to concerts throughout the Southwest
exclusively by vintage trains and capturing every moment for the “Big Easy
Express,” winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video.

Combs’
“Worried Man” ranked as the highest debut album on American Songwriter
Magazine’s annual list of 50 Best Albums of the Year in 2012. In their album review, American Songwriter
declared, “In a world full of pretenders, the
Texas bred, Nashville based Combs is the genuine article.”

Along with individual sets, the evening will feature an “in
the round” session, during which all three musicians and other special guests
will perform original compositions while discussing the songwriting process.

Tickets will go on sale Thursday, May 23rd at
10:00 AM PDT at BlackwingSessions.com.

The Blackwing Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charles and
Ginger Berolzheimer to develop and enhance arts and music programs at the K-12
level.

“We have
dedicated ourselves to developing and supporting programs that have a
sustainable, positive impact on arts and music engagement for children who
might otherwise not have these opportunities,” said Charles Berolzheimer,
founder of Palomino and revivalist of the Blackwing pencil. “Money from this
show will help us continue to build strong partnerships in 2013 and beyond.”

You know how the internet can be…one minute you're looking at pictures of cats and the next one you're reading the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth from Bruce Mau Design and you find yourself nodding your head in agreement, stopping to ponder the veracity of "Creativity is not device-dependent" and generally thinking this is an incomplete manifesto. (How could you limit it?) This then is what they had to say:

Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens
to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness
to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not
necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may
not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real
growth.

Process
is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already
been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will
know we want to be there.

Love your experiments (as you
would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit
the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations,
attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of
failure every day.

Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

Capture
accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect
wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to
study. Everyone will benefit.

Begin
anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of
paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

Everyone
is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it
makes sense. Let anyone lead.

Harvest
ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain
life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a
high ratio of ideas to applications.

Keep
moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it.
Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

Slow
down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may
present themselves.

Don’t be
cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this
sort.

Ask
stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question.
Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction,
strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and
for the ideas of others.

Stay up
late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too
hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

Work the
metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is
apparent. Work on what it stands for.

Be
careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow.
The work you produce today will create your future.

Repeat
yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

Make your
own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that
are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools
amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

Stand on
someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before
you. And the view is so much better.

Avoid
software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.

Don’t
clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

Don’t
enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

Read only
left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave
room for what he called our "noodle."

Make new
words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The
thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new
conditions.

Think
with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

Organization
= Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context
is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for
instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on
budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits"
is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’

Don’t
borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain
creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard
it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

Listen
carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more
strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the
details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their
world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

Take
field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the
Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered,
object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

Make
mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the
way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to
Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how
rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not
words.

Break it,
stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

Explore
the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack.
We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using
old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with
potential.

Coffee
breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial
spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist
once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a
conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual
conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing
collaborations.

Avoid
fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to
control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to
order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump
the fences and cross the fields.

Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve
become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are
expressing ourselves.

Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is
merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never
perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or
event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present.
It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source,
and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

Power to
the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We
can’t be free agents if we’re not free.

Chuck Redux had just finished a wonderful Quinoa Tabouli salad for lunch prepared by the amazing Kimberley Kausen of Flavorful–Cooking Classes for the Home Cookthe other day when the courses for the Center's upcoming Summer Creativity Camp popped up in an email and there, on the very first day of this exciting week-long camp, was "Culinary Creativity" led by Kimberley Kausen of Flavorful! As a bonus, Kimberley was kind enough to share her recipe for the Quinoa Tabouli salad–you'll find it at the end of this post.

Parents get your budding creatives signed up for this wonderful Summer Creativity Camp! The facts are:

In
a medium size saucepan, put the rinsed quinoa in and lightly toast it, moving
it around constantly over medium heat.
Once it is toasted, add the chicken broth and tsp. of salt. Bring it to a boil. Cover with a tight lid
and reduce heat to low simmering. Cook
approximately 15 minutes until the broth is absorbed and the quinoa looks
fluffy. Remove from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes covered.

Cool
the quinoa completely. You can even
refrigerate it for a while once the bulk of the steam is gone.

Meanwhile,
in a large bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, garlic, mint, and
basil. Add in the tomatoes, cucumber,
carrots and green onion. Mix in the
cooled quinoa combining well. Season
with Salt and Pepper to taste.
Refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight before serving

Chuck Jones
Center for Creativity and Laguna College of Art & Design to Offer Classes
This July

Costa Mesa, CA: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, in collaboration
with the Laguna College of Art & Design animation department, is proud to
offer its first portfolio development workshop for aspiring animators. This
summer, sixteen high school students who are interested in studying the art of
animation will have a chance to develop their skills and prepare a portfolio
specifically for submission to art schools offering animation programs.

This course
will be taught by Larissa Marantz, a character designer for Nickelodeon,
children’s book illustrator and professor at Laguna College of Art &
Design. Participants will learn the basics of character design, appeal,
observational drawing, and personality development inspired by the artistic
approach of legendary animation director Chuck Jones, who helped create such
classic cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew.

Ideal candidates will have had some previous
art instruction, but have not had an opportunity to take animated-related
classes. The cost of the four-week course is $500 and it will be held at the
Chuck Jones Center for Creativity at 3321 Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa on
Mondays through Thursdays 9AM-1PM from July 8th though August 1st.
Interested students may contact Lindsay Farr at Laguna College of Art &
Design by e-mail (lfarr@lcad.edu) or phone (949-376-6000) to enroll.

The principles for creating memorable
characters embodied in the work of Chuck Jones remain relevant today whether
applied to hand-drawn, computer-generated or stop-motion animation. Young
artists definitely won’t want to miss this opportunity to follow in the
footsteps of an animation master.

About the Center: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was founded in
1999 by four-time Academy Award recipient and legendary animation creator and
director, Chuck Jones. The Center’s vision is to inspire the innate creative genius within each person that leads to
a more joyous, passionate, and harmonious life and world.

These
are important goals, particularly in today’s world, when arts education is
practically non-existent; we are
dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit and we are doing it
through art classes, exhibitions, lectures, and film festivals, all of which
spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive. Jones was a determined
saver and his writings, art, and other ephemera from a nine-decade life, along
with his philosophy of guiding and nurturing instruction, form the basis of our
programs.

About Laguna College of
Art & Design: Founded
in 1961 as the Laguna Beach School of Art, LCAD has grown to include five
undergraduate majors and a graduate department. We offer a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree in Drawing and Painting, Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation,
and Game Art. The graduate program awards a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and
in Painting.

LCAD
is one of an elite number of institutions that has both regional accreditation
from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (www.wascweb.org) and national accreditation by the
National Association of Schools of Art and Design (www.nasad.arts-accredit.org). We get especially high marks for
our use of technology and the liberal arts in the art and design curriculum.
Our graduates are career-ready and receive assistance from the Office of Career
Services and its many contacts in the art market and industry. Being an hour
from Los Angeles puts you close to museums, galleries, the entertainment
industry, and graphic design studios. Our faculty includes experienced
professionals in their field; all are accomplished educators.

Were you there? Wasn't it awesome? Close to 300 people made the scene last night at the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction, the spring fundraiser for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Costa Mesa, California (couldn't resist the alliterative 'c's!)

Here's a quick look at the night in pictures…a more detailed account will be posted in the coming days (Chuck Redux needs to rest…)

The Jacobson's take a moment to confab before the crowd arrived. Daughter Brenna helped out by selling raffle tickets throughout the evening and was a contributing artist, mom Rina is a council member and volunteer community ambassador for the Center. Mr. J., well, did as dads and husbands do.

The Sleeper sisters, Jennifer and Debbie (left and right, respectively), flank Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones and founding trustee of the Center. All three were contributing artists to the Red Dot Auction.

Artist Eric Scales and his contribution, a hilarious and spot-on portrait of Michigan J. Frog!

Tracy Tanner, Nancy Evans, photographer Pasquale Ferazzoli (who donated two beautiful photographs) and the Center's amazing program administrator, Sasha Advani. Thank you, Sasha, for all of your help and assistance–we couldn't have done it without you!

Mike Dicken, national sales director for the Chuck Jones Galleries, gives Chuck Redux the "if you post this photo, you'll be in deep …." look.

MIke Peraza, second from right, artist and art director extraordinaire for Disney Studios and Warner Bros. kindly donated his talents for a live auction item that included a drawing lesson with him as well as several DVDs of films he's worked on and an original Chuck Jones drawing from the archive. Winners included David Cantor, far left, with his father Neil and Heather Broadnax, third from right, and her mother. Craig Kausen holds the Chuck Jones drawing (Craig is Chuck's grandson.)

As the night wound down, winning bidders and artists got together for Chuck Redux's camera. Here we have contributing artist, Joseph Yakovetic with patrons of the arts, John Tanner (center) and son Nick who were the winning bidders of Joseph's portrait of Chuck Jones. Also, Nick helped out last night by selling raffle tickets and taking photos, thank you Nick!

Producer of Nickelodeon's long-running "Dora the Explorer" and other animated series, Jeff DeGrandis, far left, with John, Jr., Leigh, and John Yetsko. They used their Red Dot on Jeff's "Chuck Jones as Ralph Phillips" or is it "Ralph Phillips as Chuck Jones"? Either way, it was a fab contribution to the success of the Red Dot Auction! Thank you, Jeff! And thank you to the Yetsko's!

And finally, the truth is out, Craig Kausen is not only an engineer, but also an artist! (Plus, without his unflagging energy and extraordinary positive attitude, none of this would be possible.)

Thank you everyone for making last night such a resounding success. We appreciate you!

Arrival photos and event photos from the Center's professional photographer, Stephen Russo, will be posted later this week. Look for them!

Jester McCool (right) and Jimmy Mulligan (AKA James C.) will be performing.

There will be drinks.

Tom M. (left), Dana Kungl, Tommy Martinez (TNez), and Mike Kungl

There'll be food too! (no photo of food, though, sorry. 🙁

There'll be artists.

Painter Bob Elias (left) with patrons, Sandra and Louis.

Tamara Wood (left) with her daughter.

And of course, there'll be art, lots of art! There are 106 donated works of art…you should drop everything and join us this evening. Tickets available at the door. Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. 949-660-7791 x 22103 or RSVP@ChuckJonesCenter.org.

Last night the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was the setting for a preview of its Spring fundraiser, the Red Dot Auction. It was an intimate evening that allowed the Center's donors and benefactors the opportunity to meet many of the contributing artists to this, the 3rd annual Red Dot Auction.

For the world-weary, a lounge.

The Center sparkled and shone in the early evening's setting sun and the donated artwork, arrayed as it is on the "spokes" of a wheel with a red dot stage as its hub, glittered and enticed.

You know, the great thing about the Red Dot Auction, as Chuck Redux has always maintained, is the love it generates. Each and every artist has given of themselves to help fund creativity and you, when you're standing in the middle of all that generosity, can't help but feel the joy of such gift-giving. Did we mention that bidding begins at only $100.00?

Husband and wife artists Dana (center) and Mike Kungl greet one of the Center's longtime supporters, collector Tom M. as last night's get-together got going. Funny story: Mike called Chuck Redux earlier in the day and said, "You won't mind if I come a little early, would you?" he queried, "I was thinking about the work I donated and realized it would be much much better if I painted a little bit of sparkle in the character's eye. It will only take me a moment." So, arrive early he did with paint and paint brush, we quietly slipped him into our office and seconds later, he was satisfied with the results. Chuck Redux will admit that the addition of the 'sparkle' was just the thing to finish his wonderful donation!

Council president, Tracy Tanner (right) and one of the Council's community ambassadors, Steve Smith, stopped to smile for the camera. The Chuck Jones Council for Creativity is the volunteer arm of the Center.

Artist Ylenia Mino flew in from New York City just to be a part of the festivities! Thank you, Ylenia, for making the trip, and for your generous donation, it means the world to us.

Painter, pirate, and philanthropist, James C. Mulligan (center)shows off a recent painting to Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones, and her son, Craig Kausen, chairman of the Center. Jimmy's inspiration for the painting was a late '40s cover drawing by Chuck Jones for the square dance magazine, "Sets in Order" which depicts a deep-sea diver square dancing with a beautiful mermaid.

Artist Joseph Yakovetic and his lovely wife, Sammy, making the scene at last night's Artist Meet & Greet.

Artist Jeffrey Fliehler, Minerva the goddess, and Mike Wedaa of Opis Network enjoy the hospitality of the evening.

Artist Allyson Vought with her S.O., Lisa, along with Dave L., one of the Council's volunteers and a patron of the Center get close for Chuck Redux.

Artists George Garcia (far left) and Scott Ryder (2nd from right–Scott is also the gallery assistant at the Center and without whose help, Chuck Redux would be in a world of hurt) with the special women in their lives celebrate at last night's informal gathering of artistic temperaments.

Scott Dicken (right, and who is really tall), the VP of retail for the Chuck Jones Galleries, discusses the finer points of building a collection with Sandra and Louis L., art collectors and patrons of the Center. Okay, not true, they were talking baseball, maybe, or they could have been talking about something else entirely for at this point in the evening Chuck Redux's attention span was on the wane.

Artist Luis Salazar (left) along with Dave L., Carol Erickson (2nd from right–and a Chuck Jones Gallery art consultant and collector), and Susan Palcsik (who is known for herding cats in a room full of rocking chairs) say goodnight to Chuck Redux at the end of the evening.

And that's what you missed at the preview party for the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction. Tickets are still available and at the door for tonight's big gala. Go to the Center's website, ChuckJonesCenter.org for more information. See you tonight!

The Center is truly thankful to all of the artists and wonderful people who have worked their creative magic to bring this year's Red Dot Auction together!

To top off this Saturday evening, the Center will present three unique live auction items:

Imagine if you will the sound of splashing fountains,
the tinkle of champagne glasses, good friends laughing, standing in the company
of a talented visual artist and having conversations about art and creativity.
It can be yours when you are the successful bidder on this live auction
item. Spend an evening with the painterMike Kungl and his wife, Dana, at their home and studio in the hills of Orange County.
This event, possibly a life-changing one (you may walk away thinking of
becoming an artist), is good for you and up to nine of your friends and is
supplemented by a $1000 gift certificate from 24 Carrots catering donated by Jon Brown and Norm Bennett, the owners of 24 Carrots.

A Super Colossal Bugs Bunny Drawing Lesson! Learn to draw
Bugs Bunny in the THE CHUCK JONES style. Art director of “The Little Mermaid”
and many other important Disney Studio films, Mike Peraza will sit down with
you one-to-one and teach you to draw Bugs Bunny from his chubby wittle feet to
his big pointed ears. At this personalized drawing lesson Mike will share with
you drawing techniques he has developed in his over 40 years of Disney and
Warner Bros. feature animation, along with his work in television, book,
comics, and theme park design—can you say “Cars Land”? Mike will not only teach
and guide you on your drawing of Bugs Bunny but will also do an original Bugs
Bunny drawing just for you. Your lesson, scheduled at a mutually convenient
time, can take place here at the Center or at Mike’s studio in Burbank. This special
package also includes several DVDs of Disney feature films that Mike has worked
on. And to tie the entire experience right back to the Father of Bugs Bunny,
you will also receive an original sketch of Bugs Bunny by none other than Chuck
Jones himself!

A tisket, a tasket, a bright yellow basket stuffed with
all sorts of goodies–tickets for four to the July 6 performance at the
Hollywood Bowl of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony”, a picnic dinner, along with two
bottles of wine, special Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote goblets, a Jones family-owned Levi jacket from the Warner Bros.
Studio Stores. Plus you’ll go backstage after the performance with Linda Jones Clough to meet the conductor and creator of
“Bugs Bunny at the Symphony” George Daugherty. You’ll be skipping all the way
to Hollywood! Also, you'll receive "Bugs Conductor" hand-embellished by Linda Jones. This fine art reproduction on canvas resides in some of the great symphony halls around the globe that have been the venue for performances of "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony."

You'll have to forgive Chuck Redux, but we are obsessed with the art that's been donated for this year's Red Dot Auction. From the four corners of the continent–North American, that is–to the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity the works of art have been flowing in this past couple of weeks. We are close to receiving 100 works — which was our goal — to celebrate the centennial year of Chuck Jones.

There are paintings of horses…

…and then there are paintings of horses <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>.

There are abstract works of art — including photography — that are as brilliantly conceived as the most complex oil painting.

Yes, it's a photograph.

And there are charming re-imaginings and what-ifs:

In other words, there is something for everyone at the Red Dot Auction! Bidding begins at only $100.00–and all of the proceeds help fund the creativity programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity like Pastelicious and Dynamic Dioramas led by the Center's resident teaching artist, Christopher Scardino, who by-the-way, has contributed a stunning work of art to the Red Dot.

So, do you Red Dot? Would you like more information about bidding long-distance? Contact any of our galleries, or Chuck Redux and we'll gladly help you find the work that means the most to you. Which artist's work will you take home?